The new year has been met with a sense of optimism for Manchester United fans. After beating Bournemouth 3-0 on Tuesday night, Erik ten Hag’s red army are beginning to hold a comfortable position in the top four but there is still a lot of work to do before the hard work stops.
That win made it four wins from four without conceding a goal — in all competitions — yet Ten Hag still had something to complain about at full-time. He wasn’t happy about the injury sustained by Donny van de Beek and the performance was lacklustre.
“I’m happy with the result, today it was not our best game,” Ten Hag said, as per the Irish Independent. “We have to be honest, we didn’t play that smart as a team.
“We made great goals, but at times we were quite lucky, and some great saves from David (de Gea). We could have been smarter as a team… To win 3-0 is always good.”
Meanwhile, Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neil doesn’t think the scoreline reflects fairly on the game, despite how we think United were the better team throughout…
“It wasn’t a 3-0 game,” O’Neil said. “I think we had maybe six or seven chances but obviously Manchester United had some as well.”
You can tell that the focus is shifting from winning football matches to winning football matches the right way – and we can see that the players are adapting to Ten Hag’s preferred style of play, with the understanding that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
United now have a five-point cushion over Tottenham Hotspur in fifth and the win draws them level on points with Newcastle, who endured a scoreless draw with league leaders Arsenal.
The Reds are back in action on Friday night when they take on Everton in the FA Cup.
